Can Moxibustion help dizziness caused by Benign positional vertigo?

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is also called "Benign positional vertigo", "Otolithiasis". It's one of the most common causes of vertigo. It can cause brief episodes of  intense dizziness when a patient's certain head positions or movements. The sudden sensation of spinning is generally thought to be caused by tiny solid  fragments (Otoconia) in the inner ear labyrinth.  The related symptoms could be: 

Dizziness. Patients could feel it hard to keep their eyes open, can't lie on one side, etc..

Nausea

The sense that you or your surroundings are spinning or moving (vertigo)

The loss of balance or unsteadiness

Vomiting

Although there are effective treatments for patients, sometimes, the symptoms still could bother some patients for a couple of months.

Lately, one of our client has tried Moxibustion therapy for helping this condition.  We are posting her case story briefly here. Hope the information can be some help of some patients have the same condition out there.

Patient M., Female, Age 73, Date of accident: 31/05/2016

Patient had sudden dizziness, nausea, a sense of spinning, a loss of balance, sweat at about 5:30 in the morning when she was getting out of bed. The symptoms occurred several times when she was changing her postures and her head positions. She couldn't lie on her left side. She went to the A&E of a hospital in the afternoon and the doctors there did thorough examinations on her and told her that the initial diagnosis for her condition was BPPV and gave her some tablets to reduce the dizziness. She needed to make appointments for the canalith repositioning procedure (CRP) treatments, etc.. She had to wait for a week for an appointment for the treatment.

It was about 20:00 on the same night when she told me about her condition. She still couldn't lie down by then. I suggested her to try the moxibustion self-treatment to get some relief from the dizziness and told her the way of carrying it out. 

She said that the dizziness was a lot less after using the moxibustion slef-treatment for about an hour and she could lie down and sleep well on that night. Other symptoms went away completely.

The dizziness was nearly  gone the next morning. She continued  doing the treatments for another two days and the condition went away. It hasn't come back by now.

Moxibustion & the 10th Chinese Solar Term

The tenth Chinese Solar Term is called "Xia Zhi", The Summer Solstice. It's the fourth Solar term in Summer of the year. It occurs on 21/06/2016.

The longest daytime and the shortest nighttime of the year. The Yang energy in Nature reaches the peak. The Yang Qi (Yang Energy) in human body reaches the peak as well. One of the most important theories in traditional Chinese  medicine (TCM) is that there is correspondence between nature and human. The energy changes in Nature and man are mutually responsive. It's the best time of a year for people to do moxibustion treatment/ moxibustion self-treatment and/or some other Chinese herbal treatments to regulate the function of digestive system's and modulate immunity and to cure/treat some chronic conditions and prevent some conditions getting worse. This method is also known as "Winter diseases get cared in Summer". Moxibustion therapy could be a helpful option for people have sub-health in Summer.

The following acupuncture points could be used with moxibustion therapy for regimen and healthcare in this season.

Da Zhui,  also known as 'Great Hammer', 'GV 14, GV-14'

Zhi Yang, also known as 'Extremity of Yang', 'GV 9, GV-9'

Ming Men, also known as 'Gate of vitality', 'Life Gate', 'GV 4'

Tan Zhong, also known as 'CV 17, Ren-17'

Shen Que, also known as 'Spirit Gate', 'CV 8, CV-8'

Guan Yuan, also known as 'CV 4'

Zu San Li, also known as 'ST 36, ST-36' 

San Yin Jiao, also known as 'Spleen 6, SP-6'

Moxibustiontcm & the 9th Chinese Solar Term

The ninth Chinese Solar Term is called 'Mang Zhong', 'Mountain crops such as wheat are mature and ready to be harvested'. It is the third Solar term in Summer of a year. It arrives on 05/06/2016. 

Temperature and rainfall  increase gradually and humidity of the air increases gradually as well. Due to humid saturation, perspiration is poor and fails to eliminate enough body heat in time. We could feel very tired and uncomfortable. The damp pathogen could affect the function of digestive system and cause poor appetite. Due to the higher and higher temperature, most of people would take more cold foods and drinks which could cause coldness and dampness accumulated in our system even more. During this period of time, for general well being, it would be important to coordinate intestines and stomach and expel pathogenic coldness and dampness. Moxibustion treatment can be very helpful for regulating digestive function.

The following acupuncture points could be used with moxibustion therapy for regimen and healthcare in this season.

Ming Men, also known as 'Gate of vitality', 'Life Gate', 'GV 4'

Shen Shu, also known as 'UB 23, BL-23'

Zhong Wan, also known as 'CV 12, Ren-12'

Guan Yuan, also known as 'CV 4'

Zu San Li, also known as 'ST 36, ST-36' 

San Yin Jiao, also known as 'Spleen 6, SP-6'